An afternoon in the life
by Eva aka Pinkfox
Summary: An afternoon in the life of Sam and his daughter Mary. This takes place in the Brotherhood AU of Ridley and Tidia in the Legacy timeline.


_**Disclaimer: **__All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of Supernatural. No copyright infringement is__ intended. The Brotherhood AU and it's characters were created by Ridley and Tidia and also don't belong to me._

_**Author's notes: **__This story takes place in the time of the Legacy series. _

_Thanks to Tidia for helping me with some of my mistakes in the English._

An afternoon in the life

By Eva aka Pinkfox

"Hey Carolyn." Sam greeted the blonde woman as he walked up to her outside Bauer Elementary School.

Carolyn looked up from her PDA, a surprised expression on her face. "Oh hey Sam... I had not expected to see you here... I thought Karen picked up Mary on Wednesdays?"

"Karen had to go to the dentist this afternoon. And all my students have study week before finals next week, so I didn't have class this afternoon."

Carolyn nodded. "How are things working out with Karen so far?"

"Good. They seem to like each other. I was lucky she took over the sewing part when Mary got the idea to make an Egyptian princess costume for Samantha for her history project. I can handle the report part, but I am not good at sewing clothes." Karen was the new babysitter who took care of Mary three of four afternoons a week after school when Sam had to teach. Carolyn had helped him find her, Karen being the sister of three hunters and aware of the basics of the Brotherhood and Sam's role within it. "They used one of Mary's paper doll books and some pictures from her history encyclopaedia. Karen helped with sewing the dress and Mary made the collar, belt and head piece from gold paper and fake gems."

Carolyn laughed. "Ah, the infamous history project... Josie wanted to mummify a chicken at first, but Joshua finally convinced her that it would take too long. She settled for mummifying a Barbie, with pictures to show the steps for her report... He still had to promise they were going to mummify a chicken this summer though."

"Wish him my best." Sam paused for a moment as something occurred to him. "That reminds me.... I have a department meeting Friday until late in the afternoon. Would you mind picking up Mary together with Josie?"

Carolyn nodded. "Sure. Will you be coming to the farm later that evening?"

"I should be there around dinner time. I will take Mary's things for the weekend with me."

Suddenly the bell rang and a flood of children was released from the doors of the school. Sam surveyed the crowd. Normally Mary was one of the first out the door, but she had not appeared yet. Besides him Carolyn was looking over the crowd for Josie, but also unable to spot her.

"You don't think they got into trouble again, do you?" Carolyn asked, remembering the time when the girls managed to flood half the science room because Josie wanted to repeat some kind of experiment the teacher had showed them. She pulled out her cell phone to check on any calls she might have missed.

Sam scanned the crowd once more. Finally, he spotted them at the entrance of the school with a girl with a medium brown skin and long black hair and Mary's homeroom teacher, Ms. Sanchez. "They are at the entrance.... but Mary's teacher is with them..."

Carolyn shook her head. "Let's see what is going on." Both headed into the sea of children, which quickly split before him when they caught sight of Sam's tall frame.

Mary, dressed in blue jeans scooters, a white t-shirt with a bluebird on it and a pink backpack on her back, ran at him when she spotted her father, her blonde braid flying after her. "Daddy!"

Sam caught her when she jumped into his arms. "Hello Sunshine. Why are you here waiting with Ms. Carmen?"

Mary quickly wiggled down and grabbed her father's hand. "I wanted to wait with Ms. Carmen and Padma for her mom." She pulled him over. "Padma, this is my daddy."

The little girl looked up at him nervously. "Hello sir."

Sam crouched down quickly. "Hello Padma." He looked to the side as Carolyn also crouched down next to him when Josie introduced her mother. From the corner of his eyes he saw something glittering in the sunlight. Looking for its source, he spotted the metal braces around Padma's legs. He had not noticed before. From the expression on Carolyn's face he could see she had spotted them as well.

"Mr. Winchester. Mrs. Sawyer."

Sam stood up when the teacher greeted them. "Ms. Sanchez. How are you doing?"

"Just fine." She smiled, glancing down at the children. "I hope you don't mind. Mary and Josie insisted on waiting with Padma for her mother."

"I don't mind. We can wait a bit longer." Carolyn interjected, clearly having heard the conversation.

"It was Padma's first day today. Mary spent a lot of time with her showing her around and helping her when necessary in the classroom." Ms. Sanchez informed them. "During recess Josie joined them and they seemed to have a lot of fun, finding games to play Padma could participate in." Josie and Mary attended the same elementary school, but they were in different classes. That didn't stop them from spending almost all their recesses together and they almost always managed to find each other when both first grade classes were joined for some activities.

Carolyn glanced over at the three little girls. Josie was animatedly telling one of her and Mary's adventures at the farm. Something about painting her brother's toe nails pink and blue. Mary chimed in when she thought it was necessary. Padma had a slightly stunned look on her face, but started giggling soon after. "I can see that."

Finally a woman with a long, black braid hurried up to them. "My apologies Ms. Sanchez, for being so late. The hospital called as I was leaving." She looked over the girls. "How did Padma's first day go?"

The teacher gave a short overview and Sam and Carolyn stepped away to give them some privacy. Mary looked up and waved at her father. Spotting the newcomer, she asked: "Padma, is that your mom?"

Padma turned around and saw her mother. "Mommy." She hurried over as quickly as she could manage with her legs. Her mother gave her a quick hug. "I heard you had an exiting day here at school.

Sam and Carolyn took the opportunity to head over to their children. "It's time to go home. Go say goodbye to Padma."

The girls skipped over to the Indian girl and quickly said goodbye. Together they headed to the cars, then also said goodbye to each other and their respective uncle or aunt.

SNSNSN

"How was the rest of your day at school?" He watched Mary on the backseat through the rear view mirror. She had removed Samantha from her backpack and was busy changing her from her Egyptian outfit for a white blouse and a forest green jumper.

"It was okay, Daddy. I like Padma. And she had those shiny things around her legs..."

"You mean her braces?"

"Ms. Carmen called them that. And Padma told us that she had been sick and that those things helped her to walk, because her legs were still weak." Mary appeared to contemplate that for a moment. "Will she have to wear those braces always, Daddy?"

"I don't know, Sunshine. Maybe when she is better and strong again Padma won't have to use them anymore."

"Then I hope she gets better and strong soon...." Mary was finished with dressing the doll and dug in her backpack to get a matching forest green ribbon for Samantha's hair. "And Stephen was being dumb again."

Sam flicked his eyes to mirror to see his daughter again. "What did he do this time?"

"He told Padma she was stupid because she couldn't walk... And he said we shouldn't play with her because she could not play tag. Josie said he had to stop being mean and that we were going to play with marbles." She closed her backpack and settled the doll besides her. "Daddy, was Stephen being mean because Padma is different?"

"Where did you get that idea?"

"James. We were on the farm and Josie and I told James about Stephen being mean to us because we did math and reading with the big children. He said that people were sometimes mean to people who were different from them. And Stephen is also mean to Susy and Carly... he says they should stop drinking chocolate milk because it makes them brown."

"Maybe honey. I don't know." On the inside Sam quickly pushed down his irritation at the little boy, resolving to have a word about him with Mary's homeroom teacher soon.

"Hey Daddy... Stephen also said I was weird." Suddenly Mary's face split open with a wide grin. "But I like being weird."

Sam frowned. "Why?"

"James said that if I was not weird I would have to read or do math with the others in my class. I would be bored!"

Sam also smiled and shook his head at his daughter's reasoning. He noticed her putting away the Egyptian clothes Samantha had been wearing. "Did they like your project?"

Mary nodded enthusiastically. "Ms. Carmen said that it was cool that we had used pictures from a really old vase. And Francis said she would like to be an Egyptian Princess for Halloween."

SNSNSN

"So, what do you want to drink?" Sam asked when they had arrived home and put away their coats and Mary's school things.

Mary considered for a moment. "May I have apple juice?"

"Sure." Sam poured the apple juice for Mary and got a cup of latte from the espresso machine on the counter for himself. They talked a bit longer and Mary settled in to watch an episode of an old cartoon, while Sam looked over some research he had been doing before he had to pick up Mary.

As soon as the cartoon finished, Mary jumped up. "Daddy, can I work on my witch journal?"

Sam looked up from his research. "Ms. Carmen didn't give any homework?"

Mary shrugged. "I already finished it at school. I was finished with colouring my map and Ms. Carmen said I could do my homework. It was all multiplication. It was so easy!"

"Can I see it?"

Mary sighed, but wordlessly headed to her backpack to get the worksheet. Sam quickly looked it over and handed back the work. It had happened a few times Mary had raced trough the worksheets she occasionally had to do and forgot half in her eagerness to work on her journal.

"Come on. I also need to get to work." He held out his hand and together they headed to the library upstairs.

"Daddy, you were already working."

"Yeah, but now I need to do my other work."

SNSNSN

The library was one of Sam's ánd Mary's favourite parts of the house, Mary having inherited her father's love of books and both spent a lot of time here.

It used to be the master bedroom that Sam and Lydia had shared when they were still married, but after their divorce Sam had moved his bedroom to what had been his study and with the help of Caleb and Dean had remade the master bedroom into a library.

Stuffed bookcases covered three of the walls from floor to ceiling, except for a locked door to the walk-in closet where Sam kept his hunting gear and the more 'sensitive' books. The fourth wall had large windows which let in the daylight. There were also two filling cabinets tucked away against the wall. The middle of the room held two spacious desks with computers on them, but also with enough space to spread out papers if necessary. One was normal size, used by Sam and the other was smaller and obviously used by Mary. Rounding out the room were a recliner, Sam's favourite place 'to curl up with a book' and a bean bag chair which was Mary's favourite place to do the same.

Sam pulled over the pile of papers he needed to grade for his most recent 'Criminal Law and Evidence' class. A few feet away Mary rummaged in the sole cupboard in the room to get her 'witch journal' as she called it. Sam used to keep reams of paper and writing supplies there, but when Mary had wanted her own 'secret closet' he had cleaned it out now Mary used it for the few spell supplies she had. The 'journal' was a cream leather bound three-ring binder with her name embossed in front of it. Mary could easily put the pages in the binder or remove them later. Jocelyn used the same kind of binder, but bound in a very light brown leather, embossed with both her name and the symbol of the coven Joshua was a member of. "Are you going to look up more about the plants you dried?"

Mary put down the journal on her own desk and turned to one of the bookshelves. "Uncle Joshua said I should look up when the plants can help to make people better. He showed me and Josie that yellow dock helps when you're itchy because of stinging nettle or poison ivy and that plantain helps when you have scrapes or when a bee stings you."

Most of the books in the room were Sam's. Many books had to do with law and criminal justice, teaching or his work as The Scholar, but there was also a selection of classics, a collection of thrillers and mystery novels and an eclectic mix of books on topics that he found interesting or useful.

But the lower half of the bookcases along one wall was used by Mary. A small part of the shelves were filled by typical children's books, among those a complete set of American Girl books, but the majority of them were filled with Mary's favourites, namely books about myths, legends, folktales and fairytales from all over the world and her wide range of reference works on her level. A children's dictionary and atlas, several first, junior and children's encyclopaedia's about history, art, science, geography, nature and religions, field guides for plants, birds, animals and other things found outside and some information books on specific topics that had caught her fancy. Mary pulled down one of her information books on plants and settled behind her own desk.

Sam grinned and turned back to the papers that needed grading.

SNSNSN

"Daddy, are they saying here that it helps people whose tummies are hurting?" Sam looked up from work and took the book from Mary.

"You meant this over here?"

Mary nodded.

"That is what is says. And if you look here, it says that it helps people who ate something wrong and who are throwing up."

"Like that time when Uncle Caleb had the bad apple juice and sat in the bathroom all night?"

"Just like that." Sam looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think we even have some ginger. You can also use it for cooking."

"Can you show me, daddy?"

"When I am going to make dinner. Okay?"

"Okay." Mary headed back to her desk to start working again.

Sam shook his head. Since the events of last spring break with the girls turning Caleb's hair pink, Joshua had started teaching Mary along with Jocelyn. Mary had loved it, and despite Sam's original objections, he had come to see it was the right decision.

SNSNSN

Around half past five Sam looked up from his papers. "Are you done, Mary?"

"Almost Daddy." She had partly typed and partly dictated the text she wanted in her journal to the computer, printed it and was now pasting the information next to the dried plants. "Are you going make dinner? I am hungry."

Sam checked the clock and pushed the papers away. "Good idea. I think I am going to make rice with chicken and vegetables."

"Are you also going to show me the ginger?" Mary put away the journal and headed down stairs with her father.

"I promised, didn't I?"

SNSNSN

"Daddy, what is legalese?"

Mary and Sam had been enjoying their dinner of rice, vegetables and chicken. Mary had been relating the plot of something she had seen on television, when she asked the question.

Sam coughed up the sip of water het just taken. "Where did you hear that?"

"On the TV commercials when you were making dinner. A woman said to someone that she couldn't understand what something on paper said because it was written in legalese. Is it like Chinese? It rhymes."

Sam had to laugh. "No, it's not like Chinese, even though it rhymes. Legalese is the big, difficult words lawyers like to use when they do their work."

"Like the fancy, difficult words Ben and Grandpa Mac use when they talk about doctor things?"

"Just like that.

"Do you know all those difficult words, daddy? I heard Uncle Caleb say you were a lawyer before I was born. I asked him what that was. He said that you helped people who the police said had done bad things, but who didn't do anything bad."

"Did he say anything else?"

Mary shrugged. "He also said you now teach other people to do that, just like Ms. Sanchez teaches us to read, write and do math." She took a bite and when she was finished, she asked: "Can legalese be our word of the day?"

"Why not? We can look what the dictionary says after we finish dinner."

SNSNSN

A dessert of yoghurt with fruit brought on the second round of questions. Mary had finished her yoghurt and was studying the underside of bowl. "Daddy, did you know this was made in China? It says so here." She pointed out where the letters were stamped into the plastic.

"I hadn't seen that."

Mary put down the bowl and put her head on her hands. "Do you know Chinese, daddy? Some of the books in the library have all those weird squiggles I can't read. Josie said it looked like Chinese."

Sam put down his spoon. "No Sunshine, I don't know Chinese. I think those weird squiggles were a language called Aramaic. Uncle Bobby translated a few books for me."

"What is Aramaic?" Mary asked with a frown on her face, taking care to pronounce the unfamiliar word carefully.

"It's very old language. People say that Jesus spoke Aramaic."

With wide open eyes, Mary replied: "That is very old." She picked up her last slice of fruit and put it in her mouth. When finished, she asked: "What languages do you know, Daddy? Ms. Sanchez has been teaching us Spanish. I know how to say hi and how to tell my name and lots more."

"That is very good." Sam complimented her. "I know some Spanish and French and I can read Latin very well."

Mary sat up excitedly. "I know what Latin is... That is what James is learning. He showed me and Josie his book... He also said it was very difficult and boring. And Aunt Juliet said he was lazy and that he should work harder."

"Aunt Juliet said James was lazy?"

Mary looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook her head. "No, that was Max. But Aunt Juliet said he had to work harder." She put down her head on her hands again. "Can I learn Latin, daddy? _I_ thought it looked like fun."

Sam considered this for moment. "If you want to, you can learn Latin. But not now. You are busy enough with school and learning spells with Uncle Joshua."

"Can I learn Latin when it's summer? Then I don't have to go to school."

Sam laughed and shook his head. "We will see in the summer."

SNSNSN

When bedtime came, Mary helped her dad set up the usual protections that were part of their bedtime ritual. They lined the windows with salt and put gris-gris bags with protective qualities in the four corners of the room. Joshua had recently taught Josie and Mary to make the basic version.

"Are we ready, daddy?" Mary asked as they had put the last bag into place.

"We are. Let's brush out your hair and then it time for bed." Sam reached for the brush.

"I still have to put Samantha in her nightgown."

"When I have finished brushing your hair." Mary settled on the chair and Sam quickly brushed out the waist-length hair and braided it so that it wouldn't snarl during night. When that was finished, Mary grabbed a white nightgown from the wardrobe and changed Samantha's jumper for the nightgown.

The basics of Mary's bedroom had changed little since she was a baby. The walls were still blue and Caleb's artwork of the castle with its dragons, Pegasus and the princess in the tower was clearly visible, unhindered by any furniture.

The crib had long been replaced with a wooden bed, surrounded by gauzy, baby pink and lavender drapes. The windows had matching drapes. Also in the room were a small dressing table with mirror, a wardrobe for clothes for both Mary and Samantha and two chests for toys. Two shelves on the wall held several books.

Sam headed over to the shelves. "Which book?"

Mary had settled into bed with Samantha and looked over. "Can we read a story from Africa tonight? About Anansi?"

"Sure." Sam pulled down a thick book with folktales from Africa and sat down besides his daughter. Mary cuddled close and Sam opened the book. "Let's see.... How Anansi got his stories... Once there were no stories in the world. The Sky-God, Nyame, had them all. Anansi went to Nyame and asked how much they would cost to buy. But Nyame set a high price: Anansi must bring back Onini the Python, Osebo the Leopard, the Moboro Hornets and Moatia the dwarf."

After the first page Mary took over and read the next page to her father. "To catch the hornets, Anansi filled a gourd with water and poured some over a banana leaf he held over his head and some over the nest, calling out that it was raining. He suggested the hornets get into the empty gourd and, when they did that, he quickly sealed the opening." Mary giggled at that. "The hornets were not very smart, daddy. Just like the python and the leopard. "

Sam also had to laugh at his daughter's observation. "Maybe not. But if they were very smart, then Anansi couldn't have bought the stories from Nyame." He gestured at the book. "Why don't you finish reading me the story?"

Mary once more bent over the book and continued to read the folktale.

SNSNSN

"Happy dreams, Mary." Sam flipped the light switch, turning the room dark except for the Cinderella night light and closed the door. Then he went to grab something to drink from the kitchen and headed back to the library. Pulling over his research from the afternoon, he put in a video call to Dean.

After a minute, Dean's face appeared on the screen. "Hey Sammy. You calling with good news?"

Sam grinned for a moment. "Hey Dean. Depends on what you call good news. I got in to see David Rogers this afternoon."

"That is good news."

"I think it's the only good news..."

They had been researching a pattern of assaults of which both the victim and the perpetrator had a mysterious bruise in the form of strange symbol showing up the morning after. The police had arrested a suspected accessory named David Rogers. The usual ways to get access to an arrested suspect didn't work and Sam finally had managed to get to see David Rogers by getting himself set up as Roger's pro bono lawyer.

"He is the cause of those assaults."

"He told you?"

Sam was silent for a few moments. "No, he didn't... But I didn't have to dig very deep to get what I needed..."

"You used your abilities?" Dean was surprised. It was not often that Sam used them.

"The assaults have been getting worse, Dean. It started with severe bruises, but last victim is still in a coma. The next one might be killed. The police don't have anything on Rogers and they have to let him go tomorrow morning."

Dean nodded. "How is he doing it?"

"He has been using an amulet to enspell the perpetrators. It causes them to set loose all their inner anger and hate on a victim of his choosing. I am sending you all the relevant data, including a sketch I made." Sam quickly hit a few buttons and sent the file over.

"Do you know where the amulet is?"

"He did not have it on him. It is in his apartment."

Dean had quickly taken notes. "Rainier was still checking some leads, but he can get the amulet tonight. He will also want to have a talk with Rogers tomorrow."

"I am not completely sure yet what kind of amulet it is." Sam warned. "But it should not be touched with bare skin. In any case..."

"I will tell him." Dean looked up from the notes. "Anything else we should know?"

"I have nothing else. I will send more as soon as I know something."

Dean nodded and mentally shifted gears from Guardian to big brother. "Any plans for tonight?"

Sam also switched smoothly. "No. I still have a lot of grading to do."

Dean frowned. "You need to get out more."

Sam raised his eyebrow. "I am doing all of it now so that I have the whole weekend free at the farm."

"In that case, good luck."

"Thanks." Sam moved to sign of when he remembered something. "Dean, do you still have those books we used to start JT and James on Latin?"

"I think we have them in a box somewhere. Why?"

Sam sighed. "Mary wants to learn Latin. I promised we would see this summer. James showed her and she thought it looked like fun."

Dean raised his eyebrow. "Dude.... Are you trying to turn her into a mini-geek? And you do realise that you will teaching two of them? If Mary wants to learn Latin, Josie won't be far behind."

"I don't mind teaching both of them, as long as Joshua and Carolyn are okay with it." Sam suddenly grinned. "Joshua might even be happy with it."

"Why?"

"Josie might forget the promise Joshua made to mummify a chicken with her this summer...She wanted to it for her Egyptian history project."

"That was what Max was talking about. But I will see if I can find the books. See you this weekend."

"You too."

Sam pulled the papers over and went to work.

The end


End file.
